Britain's Jordan King crosses over to IndyCar

Jordan King was named the FIA Institute's 2015 Driver of the Year. Photo: Ed Carpenter Racing

Speedway, Indiana - British Formula Two driver Jordan King has made the move over to the IndyCar Series after being named on Thursday as the latest addition to the Ed Carpenter Racing team for the 2018 season.

King, who spent 2017 in F2 with MP Motorsport, will drive Carpenter's No. 20 Chevrolet in the 11 road and street-course races on this year's IndyCar Series calendar, starting at the season-opening Grand Prix of St. Petersburg on 11 March.

"I don't want to put blinkers on myself straightaway before I've got in the car," King said. "I want to be like a sponge, absorb everything I can, try everything I can, and obviously do.

"Certainly, if I can win races, perfect, but it's very much going to be a learning year for me, and the longer goal is to become a full-time IndyCar driver and work towards greater things in the future."

Driver of the Year

King's transition to Indy car racing is the latest step in a young career during which he has risen up the European motorsport ranks. After beginning in karts in 2005, he progressed to single-seaters in 2010, winning the 2013 British F3 championship and being named the FIA Institute's 2015 Driver of the Year.

He has spent the last three seasons in F2, previously known as GP2; he competed for MP Motorsport in the 2017 Formula 2 championship, collecting top 10 finishes in more than half the races. While serving as a development driver for Manor F1 in 2015 and 2016, he participated in several tests and drove in practice sessions at the 2016 United States and Abu Dhabi Grands Prix.

Scepticism

King said he did plenty of due diligence before making his decision, including a chat with former F2 team-mate Alexander Rossi, who made a successful transition to IndyCar by winning the 2016 Indianapolis 500.

"There's always a bit of scepticism changing paths," King said, "and obviously for me it's actually moving country and a couple of things like that, and for me someone like Alexander Rossi, he's done it, but the other way around."